


Flowers and Feathers

by afangone, FainTheSentientBeing



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: A little bit of blood in the first chapter, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Demon AU, Demon Hanamaru, Demons, F/F, Nothing bad just a cup of pigs blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2018-11-12 05:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11155521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afangone/pseuds/afangone, https://archiveofourown.org/users/FainTheSentientBeing/pseuds/FainTheSentientBeing
Summary: One dark and lonely night, Yoshiko Tsushima performed the unholy act of summoning a demon. However, once the deed was done, she was met with only an innocent, friendly girl named Hanamaru. Little did either of them know, this one act would have an immense impact on not only the mortal world, but on both sides of the celestial spectrum.(AU and Concepts by both me and Chipmunksmtw, all writing is by me.)





	1. Chapter 1

Yoshiko Tsushima was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Red-black powdery mixtures covered a cloth, patterned in a strange, fiendish formation. The room smouldered from incense and candles, smoke swirling and wisping through the air as if caught in some invisible dance. Various items were positioned about points of a star, black salt, a small goblet of red liquid, two piles of singed petals placed symmetrically and finally, at the crux of the pentagram, Yoshiko herself. Aside from the orange glow of the candlelight, the room was in utter darkness. She deemed the conditions perfect, checking over the symbols she had written in charcoal one last time for good measure. Excitement bubbled within her, thoughts of what powerful demon or monstrosity she could summon flooding her mind.

It was time for the ritual to begin. She carefully chanted a mixture of Latin and what seemed to be gibberish, each word was announced slowly and precisely, she feared the slightest mistake in pronunciation would lead to her failure.

As she spoke, the smoke seemed to take shape, converging in the centre of the room. Trails of it interlaced, sewing itself together. It was as if the room around her was alive, she struggled to continue her chant as she stared at the mystical happenings before her. Next, the blood rose from the goblet, floating and positioning itself at the core of the ever-shifting smoke. It made itself into a misshapen orb, almost like a heart. Yoshiko recalled it’s purpose as to give the demon some life energy once it entered the human realm, luckily the type of blood was unspecified, so she just bought pigs blood. 

Her chant ended, from there on out. All she had to do was watch. And watch she did, observing the twisting mass of smoke and blood as it abducted the petals and brought them into the vortex. It seemed to be the final piece, as the whole thing began to solidify, the stray smoke being pulled toward the figure the rest had created. 

Bursting, blinding white light overtook Yoshiko’s view. As well as the entire room. A force exploding from within it, launching her from her place on the mat and causing her to smack against the wall with an unsettling crack. The light slowly ebbed away as Yoshiko faded from consciousness.

Bit by bit, vision returned to her. At first it was blurred, as if the world were a painting that had been smeared. Two oddly shaped figures stood before her, leaning over somewhat. After a couple of seconds, they converged, a voice coming from the now single mouth. “Are you okay?” 

To her surprise, there was no monstrous creature, no horrific beast, there was hardly even a demon before her. If not for her horns and tail, she would have assumed her to be a mere human. “Fine.” Yoshiko managed to say, struggling to her feet, watching the girl in front of her rise in tandem.

Immediately, she noticed that she was cute. An unfitting characteristic for a demon, but it was prevalent in her nonetheless. Everything about her was profoundly innocent, she was about as far from a demon as a demon could get. From her doe-eyed stare to her meek stature, she was a complete contrast to any expectation Yoshiko had laid out.

Of course, she wasn’t a bad one; Yoshiko quite liked her already. Her mind already filling with thoughts of the true deviousness that must lie behind such a cute and innocent facade. The sharp rows of dangerous teeth that must be covered by those soft lips. 

“Uh. Human-San? Are you alright, zura?” her voice came cutting in, bringing Yoshiko back to the reality of the situation. “Did you not mean to summon me?”

“Of course I did! The great Yohane requires your help, demon.” she grinned devilishly. “But first, show me your infernal powers. I must know what you’re capable of.” she spoke dramatically, hardly able to contain squeals of excitement from slipping into her speech.

“I-infernal powers?” she whimpered, eyes widening at Yoshiko’s requests. “Well, I-I’m not very good with those.” she muttered, looking down at the floor sombrely. “B-but. I’ll try my best!” she proclaimed, looking up with a newfound spark in her eyes.

All but blushing at the cuteness of it, Yoshiko mumbled a simple. “Proceed.” hardly maintaining her persona.

Despite her attempts to calm down and ignore how cute she found the demon girl, she only became more flustered as she watched her knit her eyebrows together in an intense focus, looking down at her hands as if attempting to recall something greatly important. Words were whispered under her breath, a set of instructions in some language Yoshiko found vaguely familiar. After a few seconds, a deep crimson fire formed in the demon’s hands, blazing intensely before quickly shrinking. The demon let out a sigh of disappointment, snuffing out the flame in her fist. “I’m sorry that was really-” she paused, amazed at the gleeful stare Yoshiko was giving her.

“That was incredible! Demon, what’s your name?” she smiled toothily, intently watching the demon as she awaited her answer.

“Zura! M-maru. W-wait no. H-hanamaru!” she stumbled over her words, struggling to recover from the exclamation of zura she had started her sentence with. “Hanamaru.” she stated conclusively, blushing with embarrassment. 

“Zuramaru, got it.” Yoshiko said cheerfully, either completely unaware or wilfully ignorant of her real name. “Zuramaru, you’re amazing. You’ll do just perfectly…” she cackled. Or well, attempted to. It came out as more of a giggle than anything, without the slightest malice to it.

“Do perfectly for what, zura?” she let the issue of her name drop, she liked the way her nickname sounded, so she saw no reason to stop her. 

Yoshiko drooped. “I uh… I haven’t planned that far ahead yet.” she admitted awkwardly. “But you can stay here until I do! I’ll give you whatever you want!” she bargained, looking around her room desperately for something a demon would like. “I have plenty of cursed items. There’s this skull, these candles-” she rambled on, scrambling around the room to hunt down items she could present Hanamaru with. 

Meanwhile, Hanamaru wandered into the kitchen of the apartment, it was interconnected to the living room. She stared curiously at the microwave, slowly reaching out with one finger and pressing a button. “Zura!” she exclaimed, shocked at the sudden beep it produced.

“-This weird thing I don’t really know what it i- Huh? Wh-what’re you doing?” she stepped into the kitchen, watching as Hanamaru prodded at the buttons, utterly mystified at the sounds they created. “Are you okay?” she asked, leaning over her shoulder and inspecting the microwave.

“What is this, zura?” she asked curiously, slowly poking another button, somehow expecting it to do something different to the other five she had already pressed. 

“That’s a uh, microwave. It cooks food.” she said matter of factly, in all of her research she had never come across the concept of demons being so utterly invested in simple human technology. 

“Really?” Hanamaru exclaimed, turning to Yoshiko, the stars in her eyes practically visible. “How?” 

“I dunno, vibrations or something? “ she said, struggling to recall her high school science classes. “I can show you if you want.” 

“Yes! Do that!” she nearly shouted, stepping back a great distance as if Yoshiko needed the great deal of space for the simple act she was about to perform.

She glanced back at Hanamaru, bemused at her actions. She reached into her cupboard and extracted a simple microwave meal, poking a few holes in its film and shoving it in gracelessly. With a few quick taps, she stepped back, being level with Hanamaru for only a second before she dashed forward to watch the boxed meal spinning. She gawked at the simple device, amazed at it’s spinning. “It’s moving!” she said enthusiastically, her tail swishing back and forth like a cat’s. “Does that mean it’s cooking?”

Yoshiko snickered. “Yep.” she replied, finding herself grinning as she observed the girl. It was becoming evident the depths of evil she had expected the demon to have weren’t present in the slightest. It wasn’t upsetting, nor disappointing, she was honestly quite happy to have this innocent demon. “Besides, I’m sure I can make her into my evil apprentice anyway.” she thought, she had no idea what to do with an evil apprentice, how to make one, or really how to make her into one, but it sounded cool in her head.

After five long minutes of staring, the microwave beeped, scaring Hanamaru into letting out a quick “Zura!” she squinted heavily at the microwave, backing up away from it until she was behind Yoshiko. “Why is it beeping? I didn’t do anything…”

Performing the same attempted cackle as before, she simply opened the microwave to stop the sound. “It’s done.” she announced, taking the food out and putting its contents onto a plate. It was an inexpensive macaroni cheese, not particularly good, nonetheless it fascinated Hanamaru. She approached it cautiously, her eyes locked on it. 

“Is that food?” she questioned, poking it curiously, not reacting despite the its intense heat. 

“Yeah. Do you want it? I’ve eaten already.” Yoshiko shrugged, eyes widening as Hanamaru lit up at the concept. She excitedly took the plate, preparing to just eat with her hands. “Whoah, whoah. Hold on.” she stopped her dead in her tracks, handing her a fork. “There, eat with that.” 

“Isn’t this for poking people?” she asked, poking at the macaroni curiously. Then, without a second thought, she turned and prodded Yoshiko in the arm, earning a yelp from the girl. “No, it’s too blunt, zura.” she stated, ignoring Yoshiko’s noise as she continued to play with the food.

“You okay? You can go sit down y’know… You don’t have to just stand in the middle of the room.” Yoshiko explained, pointing to the sofa, it was misplaced, resting on the border between the kitchen and the living room. It was clear she had moved it to make space for the ritual. “I really should clear that up…” Yoshiko thought to herself, curiously taking note of the lack of damage to the setup, despite the explosion that launched her into the wall.

Slowly, Hanamaru approached the sofa, collapsing onto it curiously. “So soft, zura…” she whispered, using a hand to lightly rub and squeeze at the material. 

Yoshiko took a place next to her tensely, it was still surreal to have a demon next to her. “It’s really not that soft, this sofa’s all messed up, I got it years ago.” she complained, scratching at the tiny spots of peeling leather. 

“Well, I like it.” Hanamaru replied, smiling at Yoshiko warmly before returning her attention to the macaroni cheese in her hands.

After a minute the whole thing was gone. “That was good.” she said contently. “Is all human food like that?” she sat up enthusiastically, excited at the prosepect of more delicious human foods. 

“Well, no. Uh. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.” Yoshiko stuttered, how overwhelmed she was became evident. She rubbed her eyes, she needed rest, a sleep to help her process all that hat transpired.

Luckily for her, Hanamaru yawned, curling up on the sofa and resting her head on it’s arm. “I’m gonna sleep. Goodnight, zura.” she mumbled, drifting off in a second. Frankly, Yoshiko was amazed anyone, even a demon, could fall asleep so quickly. 

Retiring to her bed, Yoshiko sank into her sheets, the realisation that she had successfully summoned a demon hitting her like a truck. Pride overwhelmed her, warming her as she began to drift off to sleep.

But before she could sleep, one terrifying, fiendish thought entered her mind.

“She’s your responsibility now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I've started a new multi-chapter fic. This probably won't end well, having to do three. But I really, really love this AU and couldn't help but write it. I have so many ideas, so I hope you all stick along with it. 
> 
> This was so fun to write, the demon and human dynamic, the dark descriptions, it was fantastic. I'm also looking forward to the domestic shenanigans and Maru further discovering the human world that'll come soon. I won't spoil too much, but there's a whole lot I'm really excited to do with this AU. I'm quite happy with the length too, nearly 2000 words on this chapter.
> 
> For the record, I have a tumblr now. FainTheSentientBeing. I'll be mentioning it in my notes for a few fics. If you want to talk to me or contact me to ask or suggest or, really do anything in relation to me, please do it there. I hope you all have a great day and I hope to see you commenting or messaging me on tumblr!


	2. Chapter 2

A few things woke Yoshiko up, unusually, however, none of them were her alarm. Firstly, there was the sunlight, that invaded her room through a slim crack in the curtains. Secondly, the sound a vacuum roaring, clearly not being used, only sucking at the air. And finally, a continuous, terrified whimper.

Already, she could picture the ridiculous scene that would play out when she opened the door.And when she did, she was almost right. Except it was about three times worse than expected.

Hanamaru was on the ceiling fan, which was thankfully turned off. She clung to it for dear life, although it was clear her grip was slipping. As Yoshiko continued her visual exploration of the room, she discovered the whereabouts of the vacuum, namely, attached to Hanamaru’s hair. A good portion of her hair was caught inside of it, the long tube stuck to the side of her head. “Y-yohane-Sama! H-help me, zura!” she cried, staring at Yoshiko, pleading and terrified.

She wasn’t sure whether she should laugh at her or to show concern. On the one hand, what she had ended up doing was absolutely hilarious. On the other, she was clearly suffering. Ultimately, Yoshiko settled on a stifled giggle before going to help her. Turning off the vacuum was the easy part, it simply fell away once she turned it off. The truly difficult part was getting Hanamaru down. “Zuramaru, can you get down from there on your own?”

“Um… I don’t think so, zura.” she mumbled, craning her neck to look for Yoshiko. After a second of looking, she began to lose balance, so she quickly snapped back into position, clinging to the fan fearfully.

“But you got up there! Shouldn’t you be able to get back down?” Yoshiko replied, distress clear her in her voice. She took a step back, trying to figure out just how Hanamaru got up there in the first place.

“W-well, I just jumped.” she explained. “That thing attacked me when I touched it! And got stuck to my hair! So I just jumped up to get away from it. Then this happened, zura.” 

“Hm… I see.” Yoshiko snickered devilishly, her voice deepening to indicate a change in persona. She did her signature flourish with her hand, just to top it all off. “This must be because of your demonic power.” she said darkly. 

“Th-that doesn’t help, Yohane-Sama.” Hanamaru commented, deadpan.  
“R-right. Look just, drop down, okay? I’ll catch you.” she stood beneath the fan, shrugging as if a demon dropping from the ceiling and into her arms were nothing.

“Okay, Yohane-Sama.” she muttered, gradually loosening her grip, little by little, until finally…

Yoshiko lay collapsed on the floor, a dazed Hanamaru on top of her. “Z-zuramaru. Get off.” she wheezed, the air knocked from her lungs. 

“Ah, Yohane-Sama! I’m sorry!” she scrambled to her feet, standing over the fallen Yoshiko concernedly. 

“It’s fine.” she forced her words out, getting to her feet. “It’d take more than that to harm the great Yohane.” she postured, an attempt at her devilish laugh thwarted by a sudden cough. “Anyway, I have my first task for you, demon.” 

“Oh, what is it, zura?” Hanamaru asked, swishing her tail back and forth, it seemed she did that whenever she was happy.

“Clean this room, it’s kind of a mess after that last summoning ritual.” she admitted, it wasn’t a particularly good first task, but it was something that needed to be done, and what’s the point of having a demon if you don’t give them something to do? “Just like, pick up the ritual stuff and move the sofa.”

“Okay.” she responded flatly. “That’s kind of a bad first task, Yohane-Sama…” despite her complaints, she began to rearrange the room just as Yoshiko had commanded to.

“Well, I have to start you out small! Then we can work your way up to more impressive things.” Yoshiko bluffed, nervously scratching her neck and hoping she wouldn’t get called on it.

“Hm.” she squinted at her, rife with suspicion and clearly unimpressed. Thankfully, she let Yoshiko be without humiliating her.

As she sat back and watched Hanamaru clean, she began processing exactly what she had done. She had summoned a demon, who would now serve her. She had always imagined this would be the best thing to ever happen to her, but it was becoming painfully obvious she hadn’t planned far enough ahead for when she actually reached this point. It didn’t help that Hanamaru was the exact opposite of what she expected. Despite it all, none of it was really offputting, she was still quite happy to have Hanamaru, regardless of her having no idea of what to get her to do. Just observing her as she had been so far was enjoyable enough. 

“Maybe she could be my maid.” Yoshiko thought, getting far too invested in the idea of Hanamaru in the outfit, in the end it became more of an appeal than getting her apartment cleaned. Her fantasising was cut short when Hanamaru suddenly picked up the entire sofa with ease. She found herself blushing, the impressive feat of strength getting to her more than she would care to admit.  
“Done, zura!” she announced, placing the sofa back onto the patch of discoloured carpet it called home. “Yohane-Sama, I’m hungry. Can we make something with the uh, microwave?” 

Yoshiko performed her usual attempt at an evil sounding laugh, and as always it came across more silly than evil. She knew this was the perfect opportunity to impress her little demon with a new piece of technology. “No, instead I shall show you a new amazing piece of human technology.” she said dramatically, reaching into her cupboard and taking out a cup noodle.“ She turned to Hanamaru, devilishly grinning. “Behold!”

All she did was turn on the kettle, causing it to boil the water. But this was enough to impress Hanamaru. “Wow! The water is boiling! There isn’t even any fire! This is incredible, zura!” she stared at the kettle intently, watching and listening to the bubbling, boiling water. 

“Zuramaru! Look here!” she snapped her fingers, bringing attention to the cup noodle, managing to get just as excited as the demon was over the simple act they were performing. “See how this is?” she barely waited for her to nod before picking up the kettle and recklessly pouring in the boiling water. “Now look, it’ll change!” 

With a gasp of realisation, Hanamaru proclaimed. “It’s a drink!”. Promptly grasping it and downing half of it, having no reaction the recently boiled water, or to the fact she had just drank down a rather large quantity of noodles. “That was good, zura!”. Yoshiko was stunned, for the first time, she had done something utterly inhuman. 

“R-right.” she replied, somewhat sickened by what she had just seen. “Zuramaru, come bear witness to more human technology.” she picked up the tv remote with glee, in truth she was doing this more for herself than Hanamaru. 

With piqued interest, she downed the rest of her noodles and turned to look at whatever Yoshiko was referring to. As soon as she turned, the tv turned on, flooding her sight with visuals of humans, she wasn’t exactly sure of what they were doing it appeared to be some form of ritual, where they would hold one another and move to a rhythm. “Ugh, I hate this movie.” Yoshiko grumbled, flicking onto the next channel and leaving it there.

“W-what happened to them?” Hanamaru exclaimed, panicked and distressed. “The two people! They’re gone! Who are these new ones? How are they in there?”

“Wh-what?” Yoshiko replied, taking a second to figure out exactly what she was thinking. “Oh. They aren’t in there! You see, this was recorded! What they do is they take what you would see if you were there, save it, then put it on this screen. There’s no real people, just recordings.” her explanation definitely wasn’t the best, but it felt good enough.

“O-oh. I see, zura.” she only half understood what Yoshiko had said, but it was enough to sate her curiousity.

By now Yoshiko had moved onto the next thing she wanted to show Hanamaru, she walked off to her room, returning with a mirror which she promptly held out before the demon, she grinned excitedly, awaiting her awestruck response.

“We have mirrors where I come from, Yohane-Sama…” she stated bluntly, her words transforming Yoshiko from her usual complexion to one of reddened embarrassment. 

“I-I see.” she muttered, desperately attempting to switch the topic. “A-anyway! I’ve been telling you so much about the human stuff, why don’t you tell me about demon things?” she asked, mentally patting herself on the back for killing two birds with one stone, changing the topic and sating her curiousity about demons. 

“What do you want to know?” she tilted her head, her tail curling behind her, almost as if it were forming a question mark.

“Are there several layers in hell? Do you know Satan? Does he prefer to be called Satan or Lucifer? Or maybe Beelzebub or some more obscure name…” she pondered, moreso wondering aloud than actually asking questions. “Is it true that there are several classes of demon? Which are you?”.

As soon as she shut her mouth to think some more, Hanamaru seized the opportunity to answer. “Yes, no, I don’t know, yes, low” she said rhythmically, nodding her head with each answer to keep track. 

“You’re a low class demon?” Yoshiko gasped, looking over Hanamaru in disbelief, she glanced at the corner of the room, where Hanamaru had placed the remnants of her summoning, it was quite the complex ritual, she was amazed it only summoned a low class demon. “How does that work? What’s the difference between low and high?” 

“Well, the lower class ones like me usually work, we’re the ones that get summoned and help out humans!” she glanced at the corner, recalling how Yoshiko had summoned her. “We all have our own individual focus item to summon us. I’m Hanamaru, so mine was those flower petals, zura!” she smiled wide, only for it to be swept away by a dark thought. She frowned, deciding to keep it from Yoshiko, she didn’t have to find out. “W-we have a higher class demon who watches over a few of us, making sure we do our jobs properly. They can be summoned with bigger rituals, but it’s not usually their job to come up here.” she commented. “They usually have bigger, fancier horns. See how mine go straight up.” she gestured to the two pointed pillars that erupted from her hair. “Theirs aren’t like that! They’re all curvy, zura!” 

Yoshiko hummed, only now realising she knew a lot less about demons than she originally believed. She attempted to envision a higher class demon, picturing a looming, monstrous creature with horns like a ram, it made her glad she had summoned Hanamaru, she was a lot cuter. “Can I touch your horns?” she asked suddenly, curious as to what they would actually feel like. They appeared to be bone, but weren’t quite.

When she asked, Hanamaru’s expression mixed to one that was fifty percent confusion, twenty percent horror, twenty-five percent embarrassment and five percent disgust. “Y-yohane-Sama!” she exclaimed, her face a bright red. “W-we’ve only just met. I know I’m meant to serve you, but not with weird stuff like that!” she squeaked, backing away slightly from her.

“Wh-what? Is that something weird to you? S-sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!” she flushed too, hiding her face in her hands. “G-god, I’m sorry.” she muttered. Her heart raced, mostly out of fear of what consequences offending her may have, but also out of asking such an apparently lewd question. 

“Um, i-it’s okay, zura.” Hanamaru said slowly. “You didn’t know.” she pet Yoshiko’s head gently in an attempt to reassure her.

Her blush only grew a deeper red when Hanamaru pet her, she had to find an escape route, and fast. Luckily, she managed to remember something of immense importance just in time. “Ah! I have college!” she gasped, leaping to her feet. 

“College?” Hanamaru questioned, slowly rising to her feet as Yoshiko scrambled toward her room.

“Y-yeah, um. I have to leave!” she threw open the door to her room, desperately scouring through her drawers for some half decent clothes. As soon as she found some good ones, she prepared to throw off her pajamas and get straight into them, however, something prevented her.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Hanamaru, confusedly stood in her doorway. “Z-zuramaru! Get out!” she blushed, lightly placing her hands on the demon’s shoulders and pushing her out into the living room. “I-I’ll be out in a second!” 

It took her a good fifteen minutes before she got out, in the time it took her to change Hanamaru had managed to make two more cup noodles and had drank them both. 

When she emerged, she was extremely different. When compared to her robes and devil themed pajamas, her clothes were extremely normal, although they kept a dark coloured aesthetic. She also worse makeup, uncharacteristically light and colourful makeup at that. Finally, and unusually, most noticeable, she was missing the jet black feather she always kept in her hair. All in all, she looked normal, which for Yoshiko, was very, very strange.

“Y-Yohane-Sama! Your feather!” Hanamaru gasped, confused as to how it was suddenly gone. “It’s gone!”

Yoshiko opened her mouth to respond, only to close it, figuring out why Hanamaru had gotten so confused. “It’s not part of my body, Zuramaru.” she deadpanned. “You really don’t know much about humans, do you?” 

“Hm, no.” Hanamaru admitted tentatively. “But I have you to teach me.” she smiled wide, showing off her sharp, threatening teeth. At this point, Yoshiko began to wonder if she was really that cute, or if some kind of demonic power was influencing her judgement. 

“I’ll be out for a while. Take care of yourself while I’m out, alright?” she held the door handle loosely, she’d much rather spend the whole day with Hanamaru than go to college, but she had very little choice. 

Nodding in response, Hanamaru commented, “I’ll do my best.”. And with that, Yoshiko was off. Despite her hesitance, there was one saving grace to college, she’d get to see the look on Kanan’s face when she finally proved to her that demons were real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really happy with this chapter! At first I was tentative about the ridiculousness, with Hanamaru being on the fan and all, but I ended up having a lot of fun. My descriptions, worldbuilding, dialogue, pretty much everything was pretty good here, I feel. I worry the middle part may suffer a little, I was having some pretty bad writers block and forcing myself a little sometimes. But overall, I'd say everything is good. All I really worry about is my characterisation and the time it took me to update this. Regardless, I really enjoyed writing this. For a little bit now I've felt really out of it when it comes to writing, but finishing this fic really revived it for me! Hopefully I can keep this up with the rest of my work. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed reading and have a great day, 
> 
> Tumblr: https://fainthesentientbeing.tumblr.com/


	3. Chapter 3

Kanan emerged from her dimly lit classroom, into the bright blanket of sunlight that covered the college’s grounds. It hurt her eyes, the continuous and sudden onslaught of light, but it wasn’t a bad thing, she’d much rather that than it be dark and miserable. She observed the space around her, attempting to figure out what to do with her free time. One option was to go work out, but it felt wasteful, the weather was nice, surely she should use it. She figured she could go spend time with Chika and You, or perhaps just relax, sit around and not really do much, after all, it was rare for her to not have anything to do. Unfortunately for her, all her consideration went to waste, as someone was soon to decide for her.

“Kanan-Chan!” Yoshiko cried, assaulting Kanan with her loud call. She rushed toward her, almost tripping over herself with every step she took. Something had clearly riled her up immensely, and while it wasn’t unusual for Yoshiko, it certainly wasn’t her usual demeanor in public. In private, she was a whacky, unusual girl, obsessed with demons. But in public, she was one of the most neutral people you could meet, hardly doing anything that could be considered abnormal. So whatever she was excited over was clearly important enough to make her forget all about her facade of normalcy.

“What is it Yoshiko-Chan?” Kanan questioned.

Forcefully, Yoshiko put her hands on her shoulders, a wild look of elation on her face, she shook slightly, as if she could hardly contain the energy within her. “I, the great Yo-” she was given a hard stare, it broke her out of her Yohane persona. “-shiko. Have successfully summoned a demon!” she announced, a wide grin on her face.

With a sigh, Kanan removed her hands from her shoulders. “Yoshiko-Chan, demons aren’t real. How many times have I told you this?”

“They are!” she insisted. “I can prove it this time! Trust me!” she scrambled for her phone, before realising she didn’t take a single picture of Hanamaru. “D-damnit.” she mumbled, putting it back in her pocket quickly. “Okay well, you need to come to my house for me to prove it. But I can prove it!” 

Kanan grumbled. “Do I have to? It’s not going to prove anything.” she put her hands in her pockets and looked around, there wasn’t really an easy way out of the situation, so she decided she would have to stick out her conversation with Yoshiko until the end. 

“Uuuugh. Kanan-Chan, why are you like this? Why can’t you be more like Chika-Chan, she believes in them! She’d come with me in a heartbeat!” she complained, kicking a rock on the floor out of frustration.

“Yes, but she’s Chika-Chan.” Kanan noted, she didn’t mean to be insulting, but it was clear to everyone that she was a bit eccentric, to say the least.

“What about You-Chan!” she objected. This time Kanan didn’t have a good response. She couldn’t really understand how someone as reasonable as her could believe in a concept as ridiculous as demons. She blamed Chika, she was the one who dragged her into her supernatural investigations club, after all. 

“Okay, you’ve got me there, I don’t really know why You believes that stuff. But what I do know is that demons aren’t real.” she defended her position unyieldingly. Even if her friends believed it, she refused to. After all, the concept was utterly ridiculous. 

“At least give me a chance to show you!” Yoshiko pleaded, “just come to my place when you’re done with classes!” she looked up at Kanan, she was pretty much begging.

“Fine, fine. But why me? Why don’t you show Chika or You?” she questioned, she understood she wanted to prove her wrong, but there had to be more to it if it was making her beg like that.

“Um. Well, you’re more responsible than them. So you could help me. I can hardly take care of myself, let alone a demon!” she confessed, her true reasons coming to light. She fiddled with her fingers slightly, her awkwardness shining through.

Kanan chuckled, “I see.” she was still skeptical, but Yoshiko’s display of vulnerability was enough to get her to go along with her. “So, have you got some free time now?” she wasn’t really sure what they could do together, but she figured hanging out with Yoshiko was better than doing nothing.

“No, actually. Chika-Chan wants me for something. You can come along too though, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” she shrugged, starting to walk and expecting her to follow. “She was weirdly vague, I guess she wants it to be a surprise.” 

“That can’t be good…” Kanan muttered, recalling the last time Chika surprised them. It was Kanan’s birthday, and she thought it’d be a good idea to celebrate with fireworks. In prinicple, not a bad idea, in execution, it was a spectacular failure, with Chika getting overzealous and trying to make the biggest, grandest explosion she could.

She ended up in hospital for about a day, it was nothing major, just some minor burns. It was unusual how lucky she was to get out all but unscathed, the doctor claimed she must must a guardian angel or something.

“We’re on school grounds, she won’t be able to do anything… Probably.” Yoshiko said, wondering just what Chika wanted.

She saw them before they saw her. Before they knew it, Chika was upon them. “Yoshiko-Chan! Kanan-Chan!” she beamed at them.Unusually, she wasn’t accompanied by You as she usually was, but by another girl.. Neither Yoshiko or Kanan recognised her, but it seemed like she and Chika were already close, given how Chika had taken her by the hand and walked her over.

She looked out of place, not only beside Chika, but in the environment they were in. Whilst everyone else wore casual clothes, with very little effort put into their appearance, she wore a faultless white summer dress that seemed to constantly be gracefully blowing in the wind. “This is Riko-Chan!” Chika announced proudly, looking at the girl gleefully. She seemed shocked to hear her own name, it was clear she really wasn’t used to Chika yet.

“Um, hi.” she mumbled, obviously distracted, but by what looked like nothing. She would constantly glance around her, suddenly focusing on completely mundane things as if she were fascinated by them. 

Yoshiko put on her best normal voice, she had to make a good first impression. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Yoshiko.” she said, pulling off the role of normal girl flawlessly. Riko’s eyes locked on her the minute she spoke, an oddly intense focus in her previously wandering eyes. They were a glowing gold-ish colour, almost intimidating in their beauty. It contrasted well with her scarlet hair, that flowed straight down like a waterfall. 

“Nice to meet you too, Yoshiko-San.” she said, she seemed to take some kind of issue with Yoshiko, but it was hard to tell exactly what.

Luckily, Kanan swooped in to fix the situation. “Hey, I’m Kanan.” she introduced herself, smiling warmly. Riko seemed to react a lot better to her, but her unusual behaviours remained.

“Nice to meet you, Kanan-San” she said, smiling politely back. 

From beside her, Chika piped up. “Riko-Chan is new here! She moved from far away! So I’ve been getting her used to life here.” she grinned wide, putting an arm around her. “She even agreed to join the supernatural investigations club!” 

“N-no I didn’t, I said I’d come along, but not that I’d join fully.” Riko protested. “And that was only after you badgered me for the entire weekend.” 

“Do you believe in demons, Riko-San?” Kanan inquired, praying there was at least one other sane person.

She hesitated to answer, looking down at the floor for a minute before answering. “No.” she concluded. 

Kanan breathed a sigh of relief. “What do you even do in that club, Chika-Chan? You never seem to find anything.” she questioned, she had been wondering ever since she started the club, but had for some reason never thought to ask until then.

“We investigate local sightings and stuff. There’s a surprising amount of them!” there was a passionate warmth emanating from her, she was the epitome of enthusiasm. “We haven’t found anything yet, but we’ve gotten pretty close! Summoning circles with vanished materials! Burn marks on the furniture! Really weird ones too! Ones that could only be from a controlled fire. A demon fire!” 

As Chika ranted on, Yoshiko grew uneasy. Having summoned a demon herself, she knew what they had come across was genuine. The thought of others summoning demons bothered her for some reason, perhaps she was paranoid, but Chika and You had never found a setup that still had people around it. It was always empty. “Maybe not all demons are as nice as Zuramaru.” she thought.

“What’d you do if you actually found one?” Yoshiko inquired, there was a hint of worry in her voice. However the energised Chika was blind to it.

“We’d send it back where it came from! There’s loads of ways to do it, holy water, certain types of salt, gold, that one’s weird, it burns their skin for some reason, wards. There’s plenty more too! If push comes to shove they’re killable.” she said everything rather casually, talking of it more like a fantasy rather than something she was actually planning to do. “That’s just for demons. I know stuff for all sorts! Even angels!” she grinned, completely unaware of how uncomfortable everyone but Kanan was.

“I-I see.” Yoshiko mumbled, looking away from her, the worry in her voice still subtly hearable.

Kanan tilted her head, confused as to why Yoshiko sounded so worried. As she thought, the pieces came together. Yoshiko had neglected to tell Chika she had discovered a demon, and now was uncomfortable as she spoke about harming them. It seemed as if she wanted to keep her supposed demon safe from harm. The emotion Yoshiko felt was genuine, but Kanan was still unsure if the demon she spoke of was too.

“Chika-Chan, Yoshiko-Chan, you’ve got a class soon, right?” Kanan asked, looking over to the two girls curiously. They shared a wide eyed glass before bidding their farewells to Kanan. Chika all but dragged Riko behind her as she ran. She snickered, while the two of them were odd, they were her friends, and she appreciated them.

All of a sudden, the sky seemed to switch from a blue to grey. As if someone had simply flicked a switch and turned off the sunny weather, replacing it with the dark scene Kanan saw. It wasn’t exactly unnatural, but it was very clearly unusual. Storm clouds didn’t tend to appear out of nowhere. 

She sighed, taking shelter from the rain in the nearest building. A large, dramatic crack of lightning struck in the distance, shining spectacularly for a moment before fading. From her friends discovering demons to strange sudden storms, it was clear that Kanan Matsuura had a long day ahead of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't bother apologising for being late again, I do it every chapter and I imagine it's boring to read in the notes. Anyway, I'm quite happy with this chapter! I really liked giving an insight into the other characters and introducing them! I think Chika and Riko were probably two of my favourite things to write this chapter. I find Chika interesting in this AU, actually. It's sort of like, what if she became fixated on being a supernatural creature hunter instead of an idol. It's a weird concept, I suppose. But I like it, and it's likely to have interesting consequences for the future! Unfortunately for me, I can't rant a lot about what I liked about this chapter, as a lot of it relates to stuff I have planned. 
> 
> Anyhow, since I don't have much more to say, I'll sign off here. I hope everyone has a great day and enjoys reading!


	4. Chapter 4

With Yoshiko definitively gone, Hanamaru felt lost. It was her first time being alone since coming to the human world, and frankly, it was somewhat scary. The once comfortable apartment seemed to contort into a more hostile environment, furniture became looming creatures, preparing to pounce. Without Yoshiko there, it was no longer the safe, nice place she had grown accustomed to. It was now an unfamiliar landscape, filled with unknown dangers.

“I’m probably just being overdramatic, zura.” she told herself, looking around the room once more. It was still a complete mystery, really. Lots of machines and contraptions that she couldn’t find back home. They simultaneously terrified and intrigued her. “Maybe I’ve just read too many books.” she thought, recalling the grand dimension-hopping stories she liked as a child, which presented the other worlds as perilous, exciting places, with danger at every turn. And as much as Hanamaru liked the idea of that, she’d never want to be at the centre of one of those stories. That was for daring adventurers, not for a simple demon doing her job.

While she wasn’t a daring adventurer, she figured she should at least do some exploring before Yoshiko came back, she’d get bored if she didn’t. 

Her journey began in the kitchen, the place she knew best by now. She hadn’t noticed it before, but there were a variety of human machines under the counter. They were much larger and far more square than the ones on top of it. The were intriguing in their simplicity. They appeared as just blocks without much purpose, but Hanamaru knew there must be some greater reason to their existence, and it was time to found out just what it was.

She opened the first one, a chill blast erupting from it and stinging her skin. “O-ow!” she cried, pulling her arm away quickly. Lower class demons weren’t good with the cold, especially if it was sudden. They had to put a considerable amount of effort in to resist it.

Shuffling back to a safe distance, Hanamaru began examining just what resided within the mysterious cold box. “Human food…” she observed. There really wasn’t much of it, a few stray bits that Hanamaru couldn’t recognise. The only thing that particularly stuck out was an odd carton, a horned creature adorning it. Hanamaru snickered a little, it looked funny with its tiny horns and odd shape. She prepared her arm to take it, little flickers of flame dancing along it to keep the cold away, she reached in, and as expected, she wasn’t hurt by the cold. She took it and read the label as best she could, truth be told she wasn’t very good with reading human language, only understanding it and speaking it. “M..il..k.” she sounded the letters out. “Milk.” she concluded. 

As soon as she sipped part of it, she realised she had made a mistake. “That’s terrible!” she placed it back in the fridge and slammed the door, as if the milk were some ancient evil she was sealing away. The flickering little fires faded away, her body relaxing automatically as she did. 

Despite how it had hurt her, and despite the fact it contained the horrific substance known as milk. She liked the weird box, it was an interest example of human ingenuity. She didn’t know what it was for, but she liked it nonetheless. 

Next she moved onto a different box, this one being a silvery colour, with a circular window that allowed you to look into it. There were countless buttons lining the top of it, she had no idea which to press, but the glowing one looked most interesting. So she went for that.

It whirred to life all of a sudden, spinning in a way Hanamaru found magnificent. “It’s like the future, zura!” she exclaimed, gazing into the spiralling machine. It reminded her of a story she read a long time ago, she hardly remembered where, and she had never found the book since. But she recalled it describing the future, and talking about how there would be devices that would spin and spin until a portal formed within them, which people could then step through hadn be taken to another dimension, and not just the human world or the demon world, but fantastical new ones that Hanamaru could only dream of. Of course, she couldn’t remember what those worlds were like, only that they were fantastical and she adored reading about them.

Of course, no portal ever opened up, and the washing machine continued its cycle. Hanamaru didn’t stop watching, she wasn’t expecting any payoff, the spinning in itself was just mesmerising. 

Eventually she got tired of gazing into the ever-turning machine and turned around, rising to her feet. She had hardly noticed that the tv had kept going. There was nothing particularly interesting happening, but the tv intrigued her immensely, she had to try it out. 

Seizing the device Yoshiko had earlier, she tapped away at any random set of buttons, unsure what any of them did. Eventually, the channel switched. She quickly stopped pressing and she stopped dead in her tracks to look at which button it was. From there, she kept changing, eventually stopping on the movie Yoshiko had turned off before.

Once again, she saw the humans close to one another,moving in their odd rhythmic ritual. It was intriguing, the way they moved in time with the music and one another. “It must take a lot of concentration, zura.” she muttered aloud. 

The scene changed suddenly, and before Hanamaru could even gasp, a new shot had taken over the screen. It was closer, but still very much focused on the dancing. There were two women doing it together. Hanamaru wondered if she and Yoshiko could dance like that. It seemed fun, after all.

Before she knew it, she was rather adept with the tv, switching between channels with ease. She wasn’t watching anything, just toying with and figuring out all the functions that the tv had. 

As she was distracted, she didn’t notice the dark clouds beginning to subjugate the skies, unusually quick. 

Eventually, she did notice something. The room was shaking. The walls, the floor, everything. Someone unknown force was shaking it, and it was drawing ever closer to showing itself.

Hanamaru cowered, gripping a cushion from the sofa and trying to prepare herself for what was to come. She knew she could either try and fight it, or run away. The second option got more and more likely as each second passed by, it felt powerful. Far too powerful for Hanamaru to do anything about.

Shadows seemed to become physical all of a sudden, being dragged in front of her by the same force that so violently shook the room. Bit by bit, more and more was being dragged in. A shape began forming, it was vague and intimidating, humanoid but hardly able to be called human. It loomed over Hanamaru, unmoving. It wasn’t yet complete.

Yet more of the physical shadows were dragged towards it, it’s shape changing and shifting, bubbling and stabilising in a cycle that seemed to go on forever. 

A bolt of lightning struck, shining magnificently outside of the window. It timed perfectly with the creature shedding its shadows, revealing the true form within them. 

A tall, older, more powerful demon stood, staring down at Hanamaru. Its yellow eyes piercing through her as it looked her over. She was the quintessential higher class demon. Large, sharp claws, curved horns like those of a ram’s, a striking tail that whipped around, ending in a deadly point. And finally, her colossal black wings, that seemed to block out all light that had once been in the room. 

Hanamaru’s thoughts rushed around, scrambling to figure out just why she had arrived. She vaguely remembered meeting her once. “I-is she my boss?” she wondered, so panicked that she said it aloud. “What did I do to make her visit me?” she asked herself, luckily keeping it in this time.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, in some human tongue that Hanamaru couldn’t understand. “Its me, Mari!” she announced happily. Despite her initially intimidating appearance, she had all but instantly gotten rid of it. Her wings folded and she began to glance around the room curiously.

“M-Mari-Sama? What are you doing here?” she questioned, sitting up formally.

“Well, I noticed one of my demons hasn’t done something. Something important.” she hinted, walking around the apartment curiously, poking and prodding at all of Yoshiko’s things that she found interesting. 

“M-me? What’d I do wrong?” Hanamaru stammered, still afraid of the demon despite her cheery demeanour. 

Mari stopped in the kitchen, looking around her fruit bowl for something. She paused, her tone a lot darker when she eventually did speak. “You forgot to take her soul.” 

Mari was wrong.

Hanamaru hadn’t forgotten. Instead, she completely ignored her orders. She liked Yoshiko! She didn’t want to steal her soul! Although it was her job, she just couldn’t bring herself to hurt her. “I-I did?” she said, feigning ignorance.

“Yep! Now I’ve gotta make sure you do it. Just in case it wasn't just you forgetting.” there was a terrifying intensity to her all of a sudden, one she completely lacked before. Hanamaru’s eyes widened in fear, but she quickly recovered, she couldn’t let Mari know her true intentions.

“Oh, okay.” she smiled at Mari with a false warmth. “That’s fine, zura.” the mask of a smile disguised her panic, mentally she was screaming, she had to figure something out before Yoshiko came home. “Oh uh, I actually don’t know how to take a human’s soul… S-sorry.” she lied, hoping that somehow, that would get her out of it.

“Really?” Mari asked in disbelief. Soul stealing was a very basic demon skill, even demons who didn’t venture out to the human world knew it. “I suppose you did live in the middle of nowhere.” she mused, recalling that Hanamaru lived in the countryside. Or well, the demon equivalent. 

Hanamaru frowned, her first attempt was foiled. And she had no backup. Behind her, Mari let out an “Ah!” from her lips. She had found what she was searching for in the fruit bowl. She lifted it out carefully, as if it were something of great importance. Although it was just a lemon.

She turned to look back at Mari, confused as to why she was so excited over an odd human object. Before she could ask, she was hit in the face with a different, but similar object. A mikan. Mari had thrown it at her.

Before she knew it, the elder demon was beside her, holding her lemon in hand. “Okay! Let’s teach you how to steal souls, Hanamaru-Chan!” she gestured to the lemon and then to the mikan. 

She promptly viciously dug her claws into the lemon, ripping it in half. She pulled out some of it’s flesh and held it up to Hanamaru, displaying it. She then watched Hanamaru expectantly, wanting her to do the same. 

Hanamaru knew she didn’t have to hurt Yoshiko, you just reached into the human and harmlessly pulled out their soul. But the way Mari did it was gruesome, she wondered if she really did that to humans…

It terrified her, but she put it aside for now, copying Mari as she wanted. Mari gave a hand signal of approval, not speaking as she ate away at her lemon.She wasn’t sure if she was meant to be copying the eating part. But she decided to, just in case.

“Z-zura!” she exclaimed in shock, it tasted delicious. She ate another bit, adoring the sweet flavour that flooded through her mouth. She stared down at the fruit, momentarily forgetting all of the soul stealing business and entirely focusing on the food. “I need to ask Yohane-Sama what this is.” she thought.

“Yohane-Sama…” she repeated, thinking about her human sadly. She was determined to find a way out of taking her soul, it’d just take some thinking. Unfortunately, Mari didn’t seem to want to give her some peace and quiet.

“So, what’s your human like Hanamaru-Chan?” she questioned, chewing on another piece of lemon. “What’d she summon you for?” Despite her status, Mari clearly wasn’t a very good head demon. She pretty much didn’t know anything about Hanamaru, despite being in charge of her.

“Oh, Yohane-Sama? She’s nice. She’s very interested in demons.” she explained. “We’ve only known eachother for a day, but I already feel like we’re friends, zura.”

“Friends already? Aren’t you moving a bit fast?” she snickers. “If you keep going like that you’ll be married by next month.” she teased, prodding Hanamaru in the side. 

“Wh-what? M-married? I-I’m not ready for that kind of commitment, zura.” she exclaimed, blushing a lot.

Mari giggled. “It’s joke!” she declared in the human language she didn’t understand. Ultimately, her confusion won out over her embarrassment and she went silent. 

“So, how long until the human gets here?” Mari asked, standing up and getting off of the battered sofa. 

“I don’t know.” Hanamaru answered, nervously watching her every move.

“Well, best find something to do then.” she mused, making her way toward Yoshiko’s room carelessly.

“Th-that’s Yohane-Sama’s room, you can’t go in there!” she protested, however it meant nothing to Mari, who continued as if she had remained completely silent. 

She rose to her feet and scrambled to stop Mari. “When this is all over, I’m gonna tell Ruby-Chan about it.” she thought to herself, the idea of talking to her best friend providing some comfort among the chaos Mari was bringing into her home.

It was going to be a very, very long day for Hanamaru Kunikida.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, I can add Mari to the story! It's so great having her! She's been one of my favourite concepts for this since the start! Although I don't think her potential was fully met this chapter. Oh well, I'm sure next chapter, as well as the rest of the fic, will give us a lot more fun stuff with Mari! I'm quite happy with this chapter despite that, I liked writing about how Maru is when Yoshiko's not around. It was fun, especially seeing her interactions with new human stuff! I also enjoyed worldbuilding with the stuff about the books Hanamaru read and well, Mari's general existence. Lots of cool stuff is coming in this fic, I'm excited! But for now, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! And I hope you all have a nice day!


	5. Chapter 5

“Uh, Yoshiko-Chan? I thought you said there was only one demon.” Kanan muttered in disbelief, looking over Yoshiko’s flat. It was a familiar place, but all of a sudden it seemed completely different, thanks to the two new faces that were inhabiting it.

“What? There is!” she replied from down the hall, coming up to meet Kanan. Standing beside her, she examined the area. She saw Hanamaru, awkwardly sat on the sofa beside the other demon, an apologetic look about her, she kept completely still, clearly tense from the quiet intensity that had just came about. Once she dragged her focus away from Hanamaru, the other demon came into full view, she had risen to her feet when they arrived, looming over them, great, dark wings spread and yellow eyes wild with some twisted form of excitement. 

“Hi!” Mari exclaimed, holding the I for far, far too long. “Nice to meet you, Yohane-San, I’ve heard a lot about you from Hanamaru-Chan!” she said, grinning creepily as she gestured for her to sit down. She opened her mouth as if to add more, but that was when she saw Kanan. “Oh my god!” she gasped dramatically, rushing over to the human and looking her over. “Nice. Very nice…” she mused, stroking her muscled arms. “Who are you?” she was too close, nearly pressing up against Kanan. 

“K-Kanan, what’s yours?” she replied awkwardly, a whole cocktail of feelings being caused by her presence. She leaned away from Mari, blushing.

“Mari Ohara, but you can call me Mari-Chan.” she smiled, petting her on the head before stepping away, she’d have some more fun later, right now, it was time for business. She stood tall, turning away from the humans and holding her arms behind her formally, trying to define herself as the intimidating businesswoman she was supposed to be.

Of course that impression was already, thoroughly, thoroughly destroyed.

“Well uh, Mari-Chan, why are you here!” Yoshiko shouted, daring to defy the demon before her, only while hiding behind Kanan, of course. 

“Mari-Sama to you.” she said, with a biting coldness that contrasted the passionate flame that she was. “And I’m here because Hanamaru-Chan has neglected a very important duty.” she said, slowly walking toward the little demon, her back still turned to the humans. Yoshiko flinched, her body shook as she attempted to step past Kanan, she had to do something, she couldn’t stand seeing Hanamaru hurt. But Kanan’s arm blocked her, she stopped moving, Kanan probably knew best, so she trusted her and waited.  
Her footsteps ceased, she was close to the window, her silhouette blotting out the light that shone in through it. Kanan and Yoshiko found themselves within the black grasp of her shadow, which seemed larger than life. “So, why don’t you tell them what you forgot, Hanamaru-Chan?” she stated. The reputation she was going for seemed slightly more reasonable now.

“I-I was meant to take Yohane-Sama’s soul, but I didn’t.” she mumbled meekly, her head low with shame, she couldn’t bring herself to look at Yoshiko, nor the girl who had entered with her. 

Mari spun around to face the humans once more, wind being birthed from the movement of her wings, it blew the curtains shut, blotting out the light completely and plunging them all into darkness. “Yes!” Mari announced maniacally, her voice booming through the shadowed room.

Kanan shuffled back and flicked on the light, creating more distance between herself and the demon, at the cost of leaving Yoshiko caught in the middle, isolated between the demons and the human.

“W-what? M-my soul?” she asked panickedly. She hadn’t even thought about that before. She had gotten so caught up in her obsession with simply summoning a demon, that not a single thought had been given to the consequences. 

“I-I’m sorry Yohane-Sama, I should’ve mentioned it!” Hanamaru chimed from the sofa, guilt on every syllable. 

Yohane-Sama. The words brought Yoshiko back. They reminded her of who she was, or at least, who she tried to be. Would Yohane act this way when confronted by a demon? Of course not! A weak human named Yoshiko would, but not the great Yohane. She gathered her resolve, closing her eyes as if collecting energy for an attack, like a character from the anime she watched. 

A dark laugh hung over the room, even Mari seemed shocked. “My soul? That’s a mere trifle for I, the mighty Yohane.” she scoffed. 

“It is?” Mari asked. Surprisingly she seemed almost convinced of the facade Yoshiko was putting on. As over the top and ridiculous as it was, it was working. On Mari at least. “Well, I guess Hanamaru-Chan can just take it now! That’s easy!” she smiled and sat down on the sofa, gesturing for Hanamaru to rise to her feet. “It’s usually such a difficult process, y’know. The humans always go kicking and screaming…” she sighed. “It’s so annoying.”

Kanan could tell something was stirring within Yoshiko. She always got this smug, overconfident look on her face, right before she said something stupid. And in that moment she was wearing that look, modelling it. Usually Kanan would leave it, let her embarrass herself, but this time there was a devilish monster in the room that could kill any of them immediately, so letting Yoshiko say something stupid would be an awful idea. “Yoshiko-Chan…” she warned.

“Human? Mari-Sama. I am no mere human.” she announced. Her statement punctuated by the slap of Kanan’s palm hitting her face. “I am the most powerful of fallen angels, Yohane!” she struck her favourite pose, two fingers framing one of her eyes.

Hanamaru gazed at her, impressed. Speaking with such confidence to a demon of high stature was incredible. The act of bravery (Which was truthfully just an act of sheer stupidity) amazed her, she stared and watched Yoshiko, listening to each word with bated breath. 

Mari stood up, walking past Hanamaru, the difference between their two classes of demon being heavily emphasised as she did. “For a fallen angel, you feel pretty weak, Yohane-San.” Mari commented, lacking suspicion, but carrying a hint of threat. 

“Hm, well of course. How would I blend in with the mortals if I didn’t keep my power down?” Somehow, Yoshiko, the absolute madwoman, managed to keep up her Yohane persona, even in the face of a creature like Mari, a demon so powerful that lightning struck and clouds formed from just her arrival. 

“I see, I see.” Mari chuckled. “Okay then, Yohane-Sama. Just get me someone else’s soul instead of yours and we’re good.” she decided, nodding to confirm her decision with herself. 

“Hm, a soul? That’s nothing. I could get you a hundred.” she smirked. Kanan’s gritted teeth could practically be heard, pushing her luck wasn’t going to help anyone.

“A hundred?” Mari asked, tilting her head curiously.

“Um, yes. But I don’t feel like it. So just one.” Yoshiko added quickly, noticing the irritated glare Kanan was hitting her with. 

Mari nodded in agreement, holding out her hand eagrely. “Okay, let’s shake on it then.” The hand lit up in the same infernal flame that Hanamaru had summoned before. Only it was a purple-ish colour, with a smaller, black flame at the centre of it. It blazed from her palm, encasing her entire hand in it’s devious light.

The sudden display of real power brought Yoshiko to her senses, reminding her just how powerless she truly was. A cold sweat began to drip from her forehead, she had come too far to go back on it now. “A-alright.” she agreed, taking Mari’s hand. The flame was painless, it was warm and it tickled, but that was all. 

They shook hands. And with that, Yoshiko had made her second contract with a demon.

Mari yawned and sat back down, stretching and clicking her bones. “Ah, that was nice and easy. Thanks Yohane-Chan.”

“Uh, yeah. You’re welcome. But aren’t you gonna leave?” Yoshiko mumbled, her attention mostly dedicated to Hanamaru, after all that had happened she wanted to check how she was doing.

“Nah.” she hummed. “I said I was gonna stay and talk to that fine specimen over there, didn’t I?” she said, gesturing to Kanan. 

“No, no you didn’t.” Yoshiko sighed. “Well uh, that’s fine. I’m sure Kanan-Chan would love to talk to you.” she added, effectively grabbing Kanan and tossing her under a speeding double decker bus.

“W-what?” she said, glaring at Yoshiko. “I-...” out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Mari’s eyes had absolutely lit up, shining and sparkling with utter excitement. “A-alright…” she sighed, utterly defeated. She couldn’t say no to a cute girl like that. She took a seat beside Mari, staying quiet and allowing her to lead. She was really unsure of what to say.

“Zuramaru, come with me.” Yoshiko said, absentmindedly taking her hand and leading her into her room. 

“Oh, o-okay, zura.” she muttered in reply, following her, head hung. Once they were inside, she perked up once more, her confidence no longer being sapped by Mari’s overwhelming presence. “That was really cool, Yohane-Sama, standing up to Mari-Sama like that.” she beamed.

“Th-thanks.” Yoshiko replied, coming down from the adrenaline rush and struggling to think straight. “So uh, why didn’t you take my soul? Isn’t that your job?” 

Hanamaru frowned and shrugged. “Well, it’s not really a nice thing to do, is it? And you’ve been nice to me, so why should I hurt you?” she explained, growing more resolute in her decision as she went on.

“Oh, well, thank you, Zuramaru.” Yoshiko said, looking at the floor awkwardly. She wasn’t very good with sweetness, so she just looked away to hide her blush.

“You’re welcome.” she replied, her voice just as sweet as her words.

“Anyway, wh-what are we going to do about getting another soul…?”

Meanwhile, Kanan spoke with Mari. “So, how did you get all this?” Mari asked, her clawed hands hovering over Kanan’s muscles. 

“Swimming and diving mostly. Although I do go to the gym a little.” she explained, embarrassed by Mari’s complete and utter admiration of her form. “I’m on my college’s team for both.” 

“Wow! Incredible!” Mari gasped, Kanan understood what she was saying, but found the way she unnecessarily switched into English odd. “Is it fun?” 

Kanan nodded. “Yeah, I like it. So uh, what does a high class demon do for fun?” she asked politely, although she was still intimidated, she couldn’t help but be curious about Mari. 

“Hm… Cooking.” she hummed. Kanan’s gasped audibly, before covering her mouth, worrying she may have offended the demon. “Must sound weird to a human, right? Since it’s so normal.” she mused. “It’s fun though.” she illustrated her point with her signature purple flame, it danced around her palm.

“You use that to cook?” Kanan questioned, worrying for Yoshiko’s hand, given she had shaken it earlier.

“Oh no, it’s different when I cook.” the flame in her palm began to roar, growing in size and more vivid in its colour. “It’s like this!”

“I-I see.” Kanan swallowed, as scary as she was, she couldn’t help but think Mari was cute. And pretty. And hot. But still mostly terrifying. “”So, what does your job entail?”

Mari sighed, leaning back onto the sofa. “Management. Lots and lots of management.” she frowned. “It’s boring, I never get to go out.” 

“You sound like you need a holiday, can you get one?” she suggested casually, figuring she might as well try and help her, for all she knew it could help Yoshiko get out of her contract later on. 

“That’s a good idea…” Mari grinned. “Thank yo-...What’s your name?”

“Kanan.” 

“Kanan-Chan! Thank you!” she beamed, standing up suddenly and dramatically. 

“Oh uh, you’re welcome. You uh, going somewhere?” Kanan asked.

“Yes, I’m a busy demon, I’ve got places to be.” she explained. “Tell Yohane-San I’ll see her later. Bye-ny!” and with her nonsensical combination of goodbye and shiny, Mari was gone, wit the speed of the lightning bolt that heeded her arrival. Kanan sighed and leaned back. It had been a long day. And although she had finally left, it didn’t seem like any of this was over, and there was absolutely no way she could walk away now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels great to have this chapter done and posted! I've been working on it for a little bit, but recently I really got myself energised to finish it! I'm really pleased with it! I've had a lot of fun introducing Mari, and getting her to interact with Kanan. It was all pretty fun. I needed to mess with this chapter a bit before I got it right, but I think it turned out well. I've got a fairly good idea of what's coming next, so I hope you all enjoy that when it hits. But for now, I hope you liked this chapter! Personally I did, especially where Yoshiko stands up to Mari, I found that really enjoyable. I hope you all have a great day. See you next time!


	6. Chapter 6

About a week had passed since the whole Mari incident and the general state of affairs was roughly the same. Kanan became a more prominent feature in the lives of Yoshiko and Hanamaru, being the one to keep them in check. After all a demon and a nutcase in the same apartment was bad news without someone there to watch over them. But other than her checking in every so often, it was pretty much like nothing had ever happened. While Yoshiko and Hanamaru insisted they had some kind of plan, Kanan wasn’t aware of it, and as far as she knew they could just be bluffing. They didn’t sound very certain when they tried to reassure her. Other than that though, it was about identical. Yoshiko tried to educate Hanamaru about the human world, Hanamaru misunderstood and fumbled her way through it. Nothing out of the ordinary. Or well, the strangeness that had become ordinary to them. 

Once again Kanan was due to check up on them, knocking at the door and awaiting for one of the two to answer. This time it was Hanamaru, only now she was wearing real human clothing. Even more surprisingly, it wasn’t dirty, second-hand Yoshiko clothing, but an actually nice outfit. The clothes looked fresh and clean too, as if only opened that day. “Morning Kanan-San.” she said, turning away and leading her into the house. Her clothes didn’t accomodate for her tail, which sat awkwardly raised to try and deal with the lack of a hole to go through. 

“Morning.” Kanan replied, waiting for Yoshiko to make an appearance. It of course, didn’t take long. Yoshiko appeared out of the kitchen, lighting up at the sight of Kanan. 

“Welcome Kanan-Chan, to the lair of the fallen angel Yohane. What brings you here?” she started. Kanan simply rolled her eyes, walked past her and sat down. 

“You know what brings me here.” she sighed. “Anyway, what’s the deal with those clothes?” she asked, gesturing with a nod toward Hanamaru. 

“Oh, I bought her those yesterday. Don’t they look great?” she laughed darkly. “Once again my powers over fashion have come through.”

Kanan took one look at outfit and knew for certain she didn’t really have any powers of fashion. “You got You-Chan to help you, didn’t you?”

“I-I! N-no! Um. Yes… Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her about Zuramaru. I just said I wanted to try a new style out.” 

“That’s fine. It’s sweet of you to get her stuff like that, honestly.” Kanan added, smiling kindly at Yoshiko. While the girl was ridiculous, she did have a very prominent good side.

“I-It’s just because I don’t want her to look weird. People would get suspicious if she stayed in those demon clothes.” she grumbled, flusteredly glancing away.

“At your place? Nah, she blends right in.” Kanan half-joked. The statement was absolutely true after all. 

“Sh-shut up!.” Yoshiko grumbled, her true intention of dressing Hanamaru in cute clothes completely exposed. 

Chuckling, Kanan decided to leave Yoshiko be and move onto a new topic. “So, what’re you going to do about the whole soul thing?” 

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ve got a plan.” Yoshiko said confidently. Kanan looked at her cautiously. “Well, it’s more of a concept…” Kanan raised an eyebrow. “It’s uh. A vague idea.” she muttered, confidence utterly shredded.

“You’d better think of something soon.” Kanan sighed. “She could be back any day now…” 

Yoshiko flinched, she hadn’t really thought about the looming threat of the greater demon, all of her attention going toward Hanamaru and getting her accustomed to the human world. “Y-yeah.” she mumbled, attempting to force some ideas to make up for all the lost time.

“Don’t get worked up over it. Just make sure you don’t leave it too late.” she advised. “Anyway, wasn’t there some specific reason you invited me here? You sounded excited when you called me.”

“Right. Curse you Kanan-Chan, you distracted me…” she grumbled. “Anyway, I was thinking we could take Zuramaru out!” Yoshiko grinned. “Allow her to make her devilish debut on the stage that is the mortal realm.” 

“First of all, stop talking like that. Second of all, is that really a good idea? I’m pretty sure people could tell that she’s a demon.” 

“What? No way! Zuramaru can blend into human society perfectly! I’ve taught her all my tricks.” 

Kanan glanced over at Hanamaru, who took a swig from a cup of noodles next to her. “R-right…” she sighed. “What about the horns?” 

Yoshiko lit up, glistening with eagre excitement. She rushed over to a bag in the kitchen, unveiling a simple yellow beanie with two cats ear atop it. “It’ll fit over them!” she said enthusiastically. Kanan watched her in silence, although she hated to admit it, it was possible for it to work. So long as she hid her tail and kept her behaviour under wraps. She could probably spend some time out in the world.

Meanwhile, as Kanan and Yoshiko spoke with one another. Hanamaru set out to write the letter she had been meaning to write to her friend Ruby. She scribbled down “Dear Ruby-Chan” and did the things one always did before moving onto the new subjects. Pleasantries, discussion about Ruby’s last letter to her, etc. After about two paragraphs of that, she moved onto telling Ruby about the recent shenanigans with Yoshiko and Mari. “Yohane-Sama was so cool! She stood up to Mari-Sama without a fear! She said she was a fallen angel. Are those actually real? I don’t know, but I like to think that Yohane-Sama is one.”  
...  
“By the way, how are things with you and Dia-San? Have you found out why she seemed so annoyed?”  
...  
“Yohane-Sama bought me lots of nice clothes recently! The only problem is that they don’t have tail holes or anything. But I suppose they don’t make those down here. I’m just glad I don’t have wings! (No offence!). Even so, they’re very comfortable and pretty. I’d like to get her some clothes someday, I think she’d like an impskin jacket? What do you think?” 

Hanamaru picked up her noodles, ready to take another drink, however some words from Kanan stopped her. “H-hanamaru-San, you do know you don’t drink those, right?” she asked.

“Wh-what?” she replied, looking between her and the noodles in disbelief. “What do you do with them then?” she asked, hoping she hadn’t been drinking a tool or piece of equipment and Yoshiko hadn't told her out of politeness.

“You eat it.” Kanan began.

“But it’s liquid.” Hanamaru deadpanned, squinting and staring at Kanan like she was an idiot.

“Yes, but you don’t eat that part. You eat the noodles and stuff inside of the liquid.” she explained.

“Ah, can I try it, zura?” she asked, putting the cup down and prodding at the noodles inside. 

“Oh, sure. You know how to use a fork, right?” Kanan said, pulling open the cutlery drawer and getting her one.

“Yes! Yohane-Sama taught me, zura.” she responded, swelling with pride. She took the fork from Kanan eagrely and placed it into her noodles, swishing them around with interest. She slowly raised the noodles up with the fork, it was a completely alien experience to her. Further and further, the fork rose, until it finally reached mouth level. She moved it toward her mouth, anticipating the new sensation she was soon to experience…

There was nothing in her mouth. Nothing but the fork. As she had moved the fork, all of the noodles had slid off and returning to be with their brethren. Kanan and Yoshiko snickered, amused by her failure. With a little huff of determination, she tried again, still the noodles fell. Hanamaru growled, low and guttural. It sounded incredibly out of place for her, a glaring exception to her mostly human-like behaviour. The other two stopped laughing. After three more tries, she managed to get some and she ate them. Finally feeling the sensation of the noodles in her mouth, their slippery texture and the taste that had been infused to it by the broth. 

Hanamaru shivered as she forced herself to swallow the mouthful. “A-awful, zura.” she muttered, pushing the cup away from her. “Why would you eat it? It’s much better as a drink…” 

Yoshiko shrugged. “It’s not that bad…” she argued, taking a fork of her own and eating the noodles Hanamaru had rejected.

“It is. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever eaten.” she said grimly. 

“Alright, alright.” Yoshiko said, eating another mouthful. “Anyway, I’ve got something for you, Zuramaru. As a reward for being such a good little demon.” 

Hanamaru’s eyes lit up like two little flames. “For me? Again?” she asked in disbelief. 

“Of course.” she replied smoothly, presenting her with the hat. “It’ll cover your horns. So you can come outside now.” she explained, excitement shining through cracks in her cool facade. 

“Honestly, you spoil her.” Kanan sighed. Yoshiko straightened as if her shower had suddenly turned ice cold. 

“No I don’t! Zuramaru works hard for what I give her!” she insisted, obviously attempting to cover up the fact that she was indeed spoiling Hanamaru obscenely. 

“Can we go out today?” Hanamaru asked no one in particular, utterly mystified with a feeling of anticipation emenating from her words.

“We will, Zuramaru. Tonight you’re making your debut within the human realm!” she announced theatrically.

“It’s only midday…” Kanan reminded her.

“Today. Whatever!” Yoshiko waved her hand dismissively. “Just allow me some time to get ready and then we’ll unveil you to the world!”

Hanamaru nodded and allowed Yoshiko to go change, having now learned her lesson that she can’t follow her in when she does. As she did so, Kanan and Hanamaru sat awkwardly across from eachother. It wasn’t often that they were left alone together, and when they were conversation never really spurred. They simply had no idea how to talk to eachother. Despite this though, Hanamaru attempting to make some small talk. “So, why do you call her Yoshiko-Chan?” she questioned, deciding to kill two birds with one stone and satisfy the curiousity that been subtly gnawing at her ever since she met Kanan.

“Because that’s her name.” Kanan stated, confused at how Hanamaru couldn’t figure that out herself. 

“No it’s not, it’s Yohane-Sama, zura.” Hanamaru replied, with an equal level of confusion. “Is Yoshiko a nickname? An alternate reading?”

“N-no… Her real name is Yoshiko.” Kanan clarified.

Hanamaru stared at the space before her with a puzzled expression, like countless mathematical problems had appeared before her and she was struggling to figure them out. “Ah! Yoshiko must be her human name! She uses it around mortals like you to disguise the fact that she’s a fallen angel!” she gasped, totally taken in by her deduction.

“Sure.” Kanan said, smiling. She might as well let her believe it, it made her happier after all. 

A couple more silent seconds passed before Yosiko emerged, kicking her door open, once again redecorated into a normal person. “Okay. Let’s go.” she grinned. Despite her normality, there was more of an edge to this outfit than her usual public ones. The shape of her coat was a bit more dramatic than necessary. It nearly touched the floor it's pitch black colouring created an odd silhouette. That, combined with a hat of her own, decorated with bat wings, made her look a lot more Yoshiko than she usually did.  
Also stupid. She looked kind of stupid. 

They gathered by the door, Hanamaru seeming determined to do well at her first interaction with humanity. Yoshiko smirked, staring at her. She was so cute, and her cat hat just made it all the better, with her horns making the ears stick up in the perfect way. It complimented her perfectly. She wondered if demons purred like cats. As Yoshiko felt a blush form on her face, she pulled the hat down over her face. “L-let’s go then.” she said muffled, feeling her way to the door handle and opening it. She quickly made sure to remove her hat before stepping outside. She didn’t want to fall down the stairs, and she couldn’t miss Hanamaru’s first steps into the wider world.

It was largely unimpressive, Hanamaru simply stepping out of the flat and down the stairs, onto the street. But to Yoshiko there was something magical about it. A demon perfectly blending in to the surroundings she had grown accustomed to for years, it was something she had fantasised about for years. Granted, in those she was the demon. But this was good too. 

Hanamaru punctuated her last step off of the stairs with a “zura”. Yoshiko took it back. This was far, far better.

It was a rather sparse day, not many clouds in the sky, not many people. Very little was going on and it seemed like everyone but them had something far better to do than be outside. It was perfect conditions for Hanamaru’s first time, even if she drew attention to herself, she wouldn’t have too many people looking at her. Only the few dotted around that could be bothered to.

“So, where do you wanna go?” Kanan asked. “You do have a plan, right?” 

Yoshiko shivered, an overwhelming feeling of “Oh crap” overcoming her. She had absolutely no plans and Kanan knew it, giving her the stare of a lifetime. “R-right well. Zuramaru, you want food, right?” 

Hanamaru unsurprisingly nodded. She always wanted food. “I need something to make up for those awful noodles, zura.” she added.

“Right! Well let’s go get some food!” Yoshiko said confidently and pridefully, attempting to play it off as something she had planned from the very start.

“Alright then.” Kanan shrugged.

And then Hanamaru had her first encounter with a car. It came screaming past as they were about to cross. The driver had been reckless due to the sparsely populated roads, figuring they could just go without a worry. But unfortunately, there was a very big worry. Namely a frightened demon.

Her first reaction was to let a burst of fire out at the car, it’s back tire catching alight. Thankfully it was gone too quickly for her fire to deal too much damage, only the tire being damaged. A little way up the road, the car came to a halt, it’s tire having melted off completely. The driver stepped out, desperately glancing around for the source, anger all over their face.

After a few awe-soaked seconds, Yoshiko grabbed Hanamaru by the hand and began sprinting away, Kanan following them at pace. “A-are we far enough away?” Yoshiko panted when she eventually ran out of energy. 

“Yeah.” Kanan said, no different to before they started sprinting. 

“W-what just happened, zura…” Hanamaru mumbled, still trying to process it all. “I just remember that fast thing…” 

Kanan buried her face in her hands. Of all things to forget to tell Hanamaru about. Cars. The most prevalent form of transport in the world. “Yoshiko-Chan are you seriou-” 

“That was incredible Zuramaru! A true show of your demonic power! You disabled that car masterfully. I’m so proud of you!” Yoshiko was gone, she had been in full fallen angel mode since Hanamaru had let out the fire. She took Hanamaru’s hands sometimes in the middle of her excitement, and kept a hold of them.

“Th-thank you.” Hanamaru blushed and mumbled. 

“Don’t praise her!” Kanan snapped. “She could’ve hurt someone!” it was harsh, but it needed to be said. She didn’t want to upset Hanamaru, but she needed to understand the danger of her actions. “You can’t just do things like that. Not only will it let people know you’re a demon, but you could get into serious legal trouble if you did!” 

“I-I couldn’t help it.” she whimpered. “I’m sorry, zura.” she moved in closer to Yoshiko, but she was just as intimidated as her, if not more. Kanan was terrifying when angry, she spoke down on you in a very parental manner, that shook you and made you feel bad to your core.

Kanan sighed. “Alright, just don’t do it again.” yet another sigh. “So where are we actually going for food?” 

“McDonalds.” Yoshiko said awkwardly. Kanan gave her The Look and she grumbled “What? I can’t afford anything else…” she mumbled.

“McDonald? Like the song? With the farm?” Hanamaru asked. 

“Yeah.” Kanan said, not particularly paying any attention. “Wait, how’d you know about that song anyway?” 

“Ah well. I don’t actually know…” Hanamaru mumbled. “I just picked it up, I guess.” 

“Weird.” 

“Alright! There’s one just around the corner. Follow me!” Yoshiko announced, making her way (at walking pace, she didn't have the energy to run again) to the McDonalds around the corner.

Once they entered, they were greeted by a trio of familiar faces. Chika, Riko and You. “Hey!” You said first, calling them over to the table they had sat at. A muddled set of greetings were exchanged by the two groups of three, before finally the attention settled on Hanamaru.

“Who’s this?” Chika chirped, inspecting he like a piece of meat at the market. “A friend of yours, Kanan-Chan?”

“A friend of mine, actually.” Yoshiko clarified, grinning. “Her name is Hanamaru.” 

“Hanamaru what?” You asked, curious as to why she neglected to include a last name.

“Uhh. K-kunikida.” Yoshiko mumbled, throwing out the first name that came to mind. 

A few suspicious seconds went by before everyone seemed to accept the name. “Well I’m You Watanabe! And this is Chika Takami.” she beamed, holding out a hand to her. Thankfully Hanamaru knew this habit already, it was the same as making a deal, except with no fire or blood or any of the fancy stuff. “And her friend here is Riko…” You trailed off at the end, embarrassed that she didn’t actually know her surname.

“Riko Sakurauchi.” she said, poised and polite. She sounded like she had practiced introducing herself very many times before.

“Well, since we’ve all met now. How about you guys come sit down!” Chika beamed, patting the nearby seats. 

“We don’t have our food yet.” Kanan said dryly.

“Afterwards then!” 

“Alright, alright.” 

Having ordered their food (And one black coffee and nothing else for Kanan), the trio sat down. Hanamaru ending up between Riko and Yoshiko. 

Riko was the same as she had been the week before. Intense golden eyes, impeccable dress, and giving off the impression that she had a problem with the people around her, but it was impossible to figure out quite what. 

“Y-yohane-Sama. I get a weird feeling from Riko-San.” Hanamaru whispered. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something about her that just bothered her. 

“Ah don’t worry. I do too. It seems like Chika’s the only one who actually gets along with her..” Yoshiko replied. “I don’t really get her.” 

Hanamaru stared at Riko for a few moments longer before deciding that eating was more interesting. She took one bite of the burger and gasped. “Wow! This is so good, zura.” she exclaimed. 

“It’s not that good.” Yoshiko mumbled, taking an underwhelming chomp.

“No, it is!” Hanamaru insisted.

“I’m telling you, it’s really not-” 

“No, Yohane-Sama. Listen!”

“Hey Kanan, did you know Riko-Chan’s never heard of McDonalds before?” Chika piped up. “It’s so weird. Apparently they didn’t have any where she’s from.”

“Huh? Really? McDonalds are everywhere though.” Kanan said. “Like even in rural areas I‘m sure she’d come across at least one…” 

Chika shrugged. “Ah well. It’s not that weird. I didn’t know what a pengin was until last year.”

“Penguin, Chika.” Kanan reminded her.

“Ah yeah, penguin. Sorry.” 

Conversations filled with nothingness continued on for a while longer as they ate, until eventually they were all done and it seemed time to seperate. “Hey, we’re going to the ice rink, you guys wanna come?” You asked.

“Huh? I thought it was only open in Winter…” Yoshiko questioned.

“Ah, no. That was just something Kanan told you. People were getting really sick of your weird poses and creepy chanting, so they asked us to get you to stop. Aaand that was the only way we knew how.” You explained awkwardly. “It’ll be fine now though, don’t worry. You’re not banned or anything.”

“What?” she gasped, turning to Kanan angrily. “How could you!” 

Kanan simply laughed and started walking with the others, leaving Yoshiko and Hanamaru behind.

“Yohane-Sama, what’s an ice rink?” 

“It’s like… A giant circle of ice that you skate around on. You’ll see when we get there.”

“Alright, zura.” Hanamaru said, still struggling to envision it.

When they caught up with the others they were greeted with an “Ah, shit.” from You. “My car hasn’t got enough seats…” 

“That’s fine, lets just put Chika-Chan in the boot.” Yoshiko suggested, snickering.

“No! Yoshiko-Chan can go in the boot!” 

“And leave Zuramaru on her own?”

“Yeah? Well I can’t just leave Riko!” 

“Well then maybe Kanan-Chan should go in the boot.” Yoshiko huffed.

“No one’s going in the boot.” Kanan sighed. “Can’t someone just sit on someone’s lap? It’s not far…”

“Huh, that’d work. Nice one Kanan!” You cheered, saluting her gleefully.

“So who’s gonna do it then?” Yoshiko asked, not realising that everyone’s eyes were on her and Hanamaru. “W-what? Us? W-why?”

“Well you two are the smallest.” You began.

“And you two seem pretty close.” Chika added. “You’ve been inseparable all day.” 

Both of them blushed, but neither disputed it, nor disagreed with sharing the seat. 

“Alright, guess it’s settled.” Kanan said, placing her arms behind her head in a way typical of her and making her way to the front passenger’s seat of the car. You followed suit, taking her place in the driver's seat. Chika and Riko sat beside eachother in the back, leaving one remaining seat for Yoshiko and Hanamaru.

“Alright Zuramaru, once I’m on, just like. S-sit on top of me, I-I guess. Um. Yeah. Do that.” Yoshiko muttered, weakly struggling to get the words out. Eventually just giving up and rushing to seat herself. 

“R-right, zura.” Hanamaru whispered to herself, mentally preparing for the task ahead. She shifted herself, attempting to get into the car. Her first issue was not crouching enough, bumping her horns on the car door. “O-ow.”. She swiftly corrected that, finally making it inside. She awkwardly maneuvered about, bumping into pretty much everything she could, until eventually she found her way to Yoshiko’s lap. Once she was sat down, it was actually surprisingly comfortable, although she could feel her horns   
pressing into the roof of the vehicle. “Okay, I’m good.” she smiled.

“I’m not.” Yoshiko whispered under her breath, face aglow with a blush. 

The car journey was mercifully short and lacking in problems. They got from point a to point b with ease. You and Kanan chatted with Chika, with Riko occasionally inputting in. Hanamaru listened in but largely remained silent until she was specifically addressed. Meanwhile, Yoshiko sat there, astounded and embarrassed about the fact she had the cutest creature she had ever met sat in her lap. 

“Alright, here we are!” You called, opening up her door and freeing herself from the car’s confines. The others soon followed, although Hanamaru and Yoshiko had a bit of a struggle on their hands.

It didn’t take long for them to get their skates and have everything prepared. With the exception of Hanamaru and Riko, they had all done it before and generally knew what they were doing. Although Kanan and Chika weren’t particularly good at it.   
“So, what do I do, zura?” Hanamaru asked before getting on the ice. “These things are difficult to walk on.” 

“Well…” Yoshiko muttered, struggling for an explanation. “You just… Go. Y’know?” 

“I don’t know.” Hanamaru said dryly, looking at Yoshiko utterly unimpressed.

“Just watch and copy me. I’m a master of this.” she boasted, stepping out onto the ice.

Surprisingly, she wasn’t actually lying. Yoshiko gracefully slid and soared across the ice, perfectly composed and balanced. It was almost second nature to her, like she had been skating for her entire life rather than walking. As expected, there was a flair to her style of skating, she drifted and spun and danced, a master of the blades beneath her feet. 

“Wow…” Hanamaru muttered, utterly mystified. She was used to a clumsy, useless Yoshiko, not the graceful creature that had replaced her. If she didn’t believe she was a fallen angel before, she certainly did now.

“Now Riko, I get its your first time. So it might be a little difficult for you. But it’s okay, I can teach you!” Chika grinned, leading Riko out onto the ice and holding her hands shakily. “Now just keep your balance and push with your other foot.” she let go of Riko’s hand and moved, wobbling and awkward, out for her way. 

Riko was a complete natural, from the minute Chika let go of her hands she was moving majestically across the ice without a single mistake. She smiled at Chika, eyes sparkling. Silently thanking her for introducing her to the ice rink.   
After seeing Riko take it on so naturally, Hanamaru felt determination well up in her chest. If Riko could learn so easily then so could she! She figured that if it was that easy for a human, then a demon like her could get it easier. Through being stronger or magic or something. She stepped out onto the ice, that determination increasing with every centimetre further she got onto the ice.

She instantly regretted it. As soon as she was onto the ice, she began to lose control of herself. She slipped along, going in every direction she didn’t really want to go. She attempted to do what she saw Yoshiko and Riko doing, but instead of gracefully moving along like those two, she lost her balance momentarily. That moment was enough though. She began to fall backwards, the ground that she was looking at suddenly becoming the ceiling. Wincing, she prepared for the coming impact. But it never came, replaced with a soft thud.

“Z-zuramaru!” Yoshiko snapped. She had caught her, and was now holding her. “S-stand up. My arms hurt.”

“You’ve only been holding me for a couple seconds…” Hanamaru sighed. “Weak, zura…”

“Sh-shut up! You’re just heavy.” she retorted. “Anyway. What was that? Your technique was all wrong.” she criticised, taking Hanamaru’s hands. “Here, follow my movements, okay?”. As she lead her along, Yoshiko wore a look of determination and focus that was uncommon for her. She moved herself backwards, pulling Hanamaru along with her. “Alright, good…” she said under her breath, beginning to turn the two of them. 

Hanamaru didn’t notice it begin, but somewhere along the way her heart had started to race. The contact, Yoshiko’s uncharacteristic look, their hands holding, any of those things could have caused it. “I-I think I get it.” she said, her voice coming out a lot quieter than she had intended it to. 

“Oh, wanna go on your own then?” Yoshiko asked, suddenly snapped out of her concentration. 

“N-no! No!” Hanamaru insisted, gripping Yoshiko’s hands tighter. “Let's stay like this…” she requested. Yoshiko obliged with a nod. 

They continued on, locked in a dance. Hypnotically moving together in a natural rhythm. There was no effort in it, the way they moved together came naturally. It seemed as if there was nothing in the room but them, as if the worlds around them had faded away. Demons, fallen angels, humans. None of that was significant in that moment. It was just Yoshiko and Hanamaru. Locked together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for taking so long with this chapter! But I think the length and content more than makes up for it. I'm really positive about this honestly! I've poured lots of tiem and effort into this chapter and I think it paid off well. It was fun and interesting balancing all the characters and putting so many events into one chapter. Although it may seem simple and like there's not much going on, I found it really interesting and challenging to get the story to flow from point a, to point b, then to point c and all the others. I hope that makes sense. Basically it was hard work but it was rewarding! I hope it all comes through and you all enjoy this chapter, I think it's a pretty great one. With all the different characters and shenanigans going on. I liked worldbuilding with this chapter too, kinda establishing how the friend group usually is and then how Hanamaru and Riko fit into it. As well as stuff like Yoshiko being really good at ice skating and You being the designated driving gay. I just really love this chapter and hope you do too! I hope you all have a great day!


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